Patience is a Virtue, Lust is a Sin
by Thoughtlessly
Summary: Millennium ago, when humans were born, so came the creation of thought. With thought, came emotion. And with the two, came the Angel and the Devil. Riren-centric, Angel and Demon; Modern AU
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Millennium ago, when humans were born, so was the creation of thought. With thought, came emotion. And with the two, came the Angel and the Devil. The Angel was a blessing, a grace and a virtue- the light of humanity, the epitome of mankind's mind. The Devil was a curse, a demon and a sin- the darkness of mankind, the epitome of human emotion. For it is in our minds that we make rational descions based off of morality, and it is our hearts that temptation is fostered and where we tend to ignore the mind. The demon and the grace were not to meet, for one resided in heaven's open skies, the other in the dank chasms of hell. And yet they did, many times, over the fate of humanity.

As the Angel inhabited man's mind, the Devil controlled the human heart, one leading to moral choices, the other leading to immoral conflicts. Within the bodies of the humans over which they reigned and guided, the Angel and the Devil indirectly fought.

Each time the Devil caused a human to act to his ethics, the Angel would inadvertently counter it with her guidance of the human conscience. Likewise, when the Angel directed a human towards virtuous actions, the Devil would drag them down into the depths of sin. Over and over this repeated, though the bodies of man.

* * *

As humans began to evolve, the scales of universe began to sway. Suddenly, there were times where humanity succumbed completely to their desires, lost in sin- worshipping the Devil. And times where man would repent and ask for forgiveness- favoring the Angel. As the balance between order and chaos, virtue and sin began to favor to one being, the other would bleed. 14 times, humans questioned themselves. 7 times each, both the Angel and the Devil were wounded, forgotten by the very creatures they raised. Seven drops from each- fourteen in total. 14 drops of ethereal essence from the bodies of the beings that guide sentient life on earth.

The seven drops of humanity's despair bore the Seven Divine Virtues- for light can be found even in the deepest darkness- and from the seven drops of mankind's hope came the Seven Mortal Sins- because there is still shadow to be found in the brightest of lights.

Of Sin there was Lust, the carnal desire for skin. Greed, the never ending wish for more. Wrath, the savage fury of injustice. Pride, the blinding illusion of control. Sloth, the idle apathy of laziness. Envy, the unrestrained jealousy of rejection. And Gluttony, the excessive consumption of the insatiable.

On the other side there was Virtue. First was Love, the cherishing nature of affection. Charity, the generous gift for deprivation. Patience, the endless wait of serenity. Modesty, the humble refusal of discipline. Diligence, the dominating authority of jurisdiction. Hospitality, the kind maneuver of sympathy. And Sobriety, the refraining abstinence of solemnity.

* * *

Both sin and virtue inhabited a human, some more prominent in their virtue, others in their sin. But while both were ethereal, one could find a human host in which one of these supernatural beings were represented. You need only to look for a pair of wings- one black, one white. Forasmuch as darkness smothers light, the black will overlap the white and inasmuch as light can overcome darkness, the white will overlay the black. Such is the mark of one borne with the blood of a transcendent being.

* * *

 **A/n: I have some things to say.**

A) For my update a few weeks ago, I apologize for raising anybody's hopes. As soon as I read it over, I hated it. I believe it was rushed as well as short and I am currently rewriting it- don't worry, it'll be up soon.

B) As you can clearly see, I rewrote my prologue. I thought there were some details that I needed to clarify in order to move my story along and I added them. Again, sorry if this update got your hopes up- but it's honestly not my problem.

C) Yes I know the Sins and Virtues don't exactly match up to what's written down in studies. It just sounded better this way. I don't care if you don't like it- learn to deal with it.

D) At Levi (the user not the character), who reviewed this quite rudely- HOW ABOUT YOU FUCK OFF.

E) Thank you for reading, following/fave-ing, and/or viewing my fanfic


	2. Chapter 2: Eren Jaegar

_"You like that?" Lips caressed his gently. They were kissing- him and another person, whose face was shrouded in mystery. Their lips enveloped each other, kissing softly, snugly, locked in a tight embrace._

 _Eren could feel a tongue swipe gently at his lips. When he didn't open his mouth, his partner growled softly and nipped harshly at his bottom lip. Gasping at the sting, his mouth widened enough for his companion to slip the wet appendage through. That's when it all went to hell- or possibly heaven._

 _That sensational tongue, mapping out every crevice of his mouth, twining with his own, dancing between their mouths. Eren could feel his eyelids slowly closing, his vision going dark- only the feel of the tongue in his mouth told him that this scene was occurring. His hands flew to the silky smooth strands of his partner's undercut. He hummed contentedly, satisfied with the attention being given to his mouth._

 _"Eren," his mysterious partner murmured._ _"Eren… Eren… Eren…" The brunette moaned at the feel on his name on his companion's lips. The name of said companion was on the tip of his tongue. What was it again? L- something? The nape of his neck began to tingle- his tattoo._ Who **is** this guy?

 _Eren broke the kiss and looked towards his companion's face, which was slowly fading away- a trace of smirk on pale, thin lips. His name still echoed around the area, resonating through his mind. His tattoo kept tingling. He clapped his hand on the back of his neck, trying to stifle the tiny shocks that came._ It couldn't be...

 _"The Sin of Lust." He stated, his voice monotonous, his face slack with disbelief. That face, still hidden in shadow, gave him one last cocky grin before dissipating._ This is your destiny. _He shook his head, as if trying to dislodge the celestial voice that spoke._ This will come to pass. _He refused to believe it._ It is inevitable. You cannot fight the will of fate.

 _Eren! His name still echoed, called out by that dark, silky voice. He scowled into the shadows of his mind. Sin of Lust._ No, I that won't happen. I won't let it happen! _He thought to himself stubbornly, dispelling all memory of the pleasure he received from just that one kiss. But the sounds still lingered in the recesses of his mind- his name, being called by the Sin._

 _Eren! Eren! Er-_

* * *

"-EN JAEGAR!" A voice shouted above his head. The aforementioned adolescent shot up in his seat at the outcry. A man was standing over him, eyebrows creased in anger with a nasty frown to match. He looked around covertly, trying to adjust to the sudden change in his surroundings. Other teens sat near him in rows, most of them staring at him and laughing at his situation. His best friend was sitting to his right, shaking his head at Eren's predicament. On the other hand, to his left, sat his adopted sister, almost as angry as his hovering teacher, a murderous look on his face. _Oh right. First day of high school at Shiganshina._

"Jaegar!" At the teacher's yell, he looked back up at the bald history teacher. "Uh, yes sir?" he asked meekly. The teacher scowled.

"What makes you think that you can sleep in my class? What do you have to say for yourself?" The brunette couldn't justify his actions, his mortification made visible by the increasing blush on his face.

"Sorry, Mr. Shadis. I…" Eren mumbled, his voice trailing off at the end of his reply. He couldn't think of a decent excuse. His teacher snorted.

"Detention, Jaegar. Report to the dean after school." Eren nodded meekly. "Yes, sir. Will do."

The teacher returned to the front of the class and continued with his lesson. Eren began to zone out again, his gaze directed to the window. His thoughts whirled around the remaining wisps of his dream, his focus on his mysterious partner. _Why can't I remember his face?_ He could feel Mikasa glaring at him in disapproval but Eren ignored it. He had already gotten detention- it couldn't get worse, and he wasn't worried anyway. His hand rubbed absentmindedly at the nape of his neck, at the tips of a tattoo peeking out from the collar of his shirt. It wasn't tingling now, but he could remember the feeling- like pins and needles jabbing through the pair of wings etched on his neck. The white one overlayed the black. _Could that have been...real?_

Eren was the Virtue of Love- his friends were the other six, hosts of the angels born of demon blood. Those crossed wings that they were marked with were paired with the tattoo of the corresponding Sin. The tingling of the tattoo told the Angels when their demon counterpart was nearby. _Lust, huh?_ His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the bell.

"Alright you maggots!Write me a report, summarizing the causes of Maria City's downfall. I expect your essays on the Sina Corporation in 2 weeks. Dismissed!" Shadis gathered his notes and left the room, the students groaning with their assigned workload. Eren shoved all his papers into his messenger bag and stood up- only to be greeted by the angry face of his sister. She pointed a finger at his face.

"Eren Jaegar," she began, "you're not supposed to get in any more trouble! There was that fight in the hallway, with those sophomores last period and now this?" She shook her head, frustrated at her adopted brother's antics. Armin put a hand on her shoulder. "Mikasa, calm down. Eren's already got detention- nothing you say will change that. Also, it's not like it's his first time getting in this predicament." The ravenette took a breath and nodded resignedly. The trio started walking out of class.

"Besides," Eren added. "That fight was totally Jean's fault." He named a friend of theirs, who just so happened to be walking towards them.

"No it wasn't. This suicidal bastard jumped in head first and started swinging," the blonde freshman said, sneering at the brunette. "It's hard to believe that this guy is supposed to be an Angel." While Jean was a human, special circumstances lead to him finding out about Eren and his friends' inheritance. And at every chance he got, he mocked the brunette about his Virtue. "This guy is supposedly the Virtue of Love. It's unbelievable."

Eren glared right back. "You should get your head checked, horseface," Eren seethed, biting out his offending title for Jean, "last I remember, you were getting your ass handed to you on a silver platter before I stepped in and saved it!" Jean was scowling now. "And anyways, who cares if I'm a Virtue? Aren't you dating one?" The two boys were now toe to toe, in each other's faces, gearing up for another fight. Mikasa started over to them, about to break up the fight. As expected of the Virtue of Patience. Eren's sister always managed to break up more fights than she started. However, if someone set her off, she was utterly unstoppable.

"Now now, calm down you two. You shouldn't cause anymore trouble. Otherwise, the teachers will report you." A soothing voice broke in hastily, beating Mikasa to the punch. A freckled teen moved between the two snarling freshmen, a hand on each chest, trying to push them away from each other. He shot a look to Eren, silently asking the brunette to stop. When that had no effect, he turned to the blonde. "Come on Jean. Please stop this." The blonde turned to his worried boyfriend. He sighed and looked away from Eren grudgingly. Wrapping his arms around his lover, he buried his face into the dark locks, his next words muffled. "Only for you Marco." Marco's hand was covered his, smiling gently at the show of affection- the Virtue of Charity always enjoyed the small gestures his boyfriend bestowed upon him. They were sweet and showed the underlying emotion that the blonde always kept hidden.

Snorting- and giving the two some privacy- Eren turned back to Mikasa and Armin. "Come on. I have to drop off my books, then we can head to lunch." The trio started to walk off, Eren calling over his shoulder at the loving couple, "We'll see you there!"

* * *

"There they are!" Eren, Mikasa and Armin looked up at the exclamation. They were at Eren's locker, about to head to the lunchroom after dropping off the brunette's books. Two girls, one tall brunette, the other a short blonde, were strolling up to them, holding hands. "We were looking for you! Everybody's already in the cafeteria. Sasha's already eating." The trio chuckled at the last remark. "Of course she's already started," Armin said, shaking his head. 'How's Reiner taking it, Ymir?"

The dark haired girl shook her head. "His tattoo's not bothering him anymore, not since he made friends with Sasha but..." her voice trailed off and her hand flew to her mouth, trying to muffle her snickers. "He's not taking her eating rate very well. He keeps telling her to chew her food and slow down," the blonde finished.

"Yeah, what Christa said," Ymir added between her laughs. The blonde-haired girl then turned to Ymir. "Ymir," she scolded gently. "It's not polite to laugh at others. You know the reason why it's like this." The Virtue of Humility was constantly like this, polite, gentle and caring towards others- unless someone she loved was threatened. Ymir threw her arms around the shorter girl, locking her girlfriend in a tight embrace.

"Sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to make you mad." Christa looked up at her, smiling softly. Putting a hand on the freckled girl's cheek, she said, "It's alright, just try not to do it again."

While most of their friends were Virtues or humans dating Virtues, there was one that stood out. A Sin. They'd met in middle school- it was the Angels' first encounter with a demon. Surprisingly, they'd gotten along well, until Reiner transferred over in eighth grade. That's when the tattoos came into play. The Sin of Gluttony and the Virtue of Sobriety couldn't be near each other with the prickling symbols etched on their skin. Eventually though, they discovered that if they openly accepted each other as friends, admitting to neutrality, the essence in their blood would calm, ceasing the annoying sensation. Their gang of friends stayed close and all of them chose to come to the same high school, and Reiner being Sasha's angelic counterpart was a constant source of entertainment.

"Is Connie with them?" Eren asked, naming Sasha's bald boyfriend. The couple walking with them nodded. "Last I heard, Bertholt and Annie were there too." Ymir added. The other four began to chat while Eren reflected on his dream. _The Sin of Lust..._ He shook his head. _It was just a dream._

Turning to Armin, he opened his mouth, about to ask a question and join in the conversation, when he bumped into somebody- hard- and fell to the ground. The chattering of his friends stopped and they looked over to where the brunette had fallen.

"Dammit, watch where you'r-" His voice cut off at the prickling sensation beginning at the base of his neck. _No fucking way. It can't be..._ He heard a snort above his head. "Take your own advice you shitty brat." _That voice..._ It just like it was in his dream. Instinctively, his hand flew up to the nape of his neck, to the pins and needles beginning to form on the surface of the pair of wings marking the sensitive skin there.

"Angel." The guy standing above him murmured softly. His voice was dark silk, it was carnal desire. _He knew._ Eren's friends snapped their heads towards him, recognizing the demon.

Standing up slowly, his hand still on his tingling neck, Eren looked at his face, into the silvery gray eyes of the Sin of Lust.

* * *

 **A/n: Finally finished. Hope you enjoyed! Hopefully, I can get another chapter up by Christmas- as a present to you all.**

There are some things that I want to comment on:

A) Yes, there are humans that know of Eren and his friends, I'll go deeper into this reason later on

B) Yes, more of Eren's friends are Virtues. This has yet to be revealed- I'm just waiting for the right moment.

C) Next chapter will probably have some of Levi's PoV. Look forward to it!

D) Yes, the title of this fic is that **Patience** is the virtue and Lust is the sin and Eren is the virtue of Love. The title is based off of the saying that patience is a virtue and I used Lust as the sin because they will be doing **lots** of lusting in this fanfic. Hope that clarifies some stuff.

E) Thank you for reading my fanfiction. I hope you liked it!


	3. Chapter 3: Facing My Demon

_'Angel'_

It felt like the word was reverberating through the hallway as Eren stared at his demon counterpart. The Sin of Lust, the supernatural brother to his Virtue of Love, was staring right back. His hand still clamped over the nape of his neck, Eren surveyed the person who was supposedly his satanic equivalent.

He was- surprisingly- shorter than Eren, with raven locks. He had an undercut and bangs that hung over his forehead framing his pale face. His eyes were a silver gray, sharp and piercing. A hint of curiosity lay in those depths, overshadowed by irritation. The acute slope of his nose led Eren's teal eyes to rosy lips.

The freshman's dream surfaced from his memory and he flushed, remembering the sensation of the lips locked with his. Those lips were now turned up in a smirk, amusement evident on the Sin's face. Eren dragged his eyes, hurriedly, back up to meet the silver ones now filled with evident mockery.

"Done checking me out yet? You like what you see?" Eren scowled at the words, his anger spiking. As the animosity between them increased, the brunette winced, the tickling sensation of his tattoo increased to pins and needles jabbing at his neck. Still staring at the Sin, the brunette couldn't any discomfort on the guy's face. If Eren was feeling this bad then the demon must be feeling the same sensation- except, he had no reaction on his face, only the sneer from taunting him. _Where's his tattoo?_

"As if I'd be attracted to **you** of all people, demon," Eren hissed in return. Armin, Mikasa, Ymir and Christa had walked over by then and flanked him. The Sin raised an eyebrow. "Your friends I presume?" His friends remained silent, while the brunette chose to glare at the raven in response. The raven opened his mouth, no doubt to make another snide remark when he was interrupted by an exclamation.

"Levi~" A voice called boldly from the other end of the hallway, getting closer to the site of confrontation between Eren and his corresponding Sin. A red-haired girl sashayed over to them, mini skirt swishing as she walked and her chest blatantly displayed by the low cut shirt she wore. She linked her arm with the short raven, plastering herself on his arm.

"Is everything alright babe?" She purred, putting emphasis on the pet name. The raven's eyebrow twitched. Suddenly, Eren felt irritation rush through his mind- except, the emotions didn't stem from himself. He shot a glance at the Sin. He appeared to be impassive as the girl babbled sugary nonsense at him but his eyes were brimming with annoyance. _I can feel his emotions?_ As shock and disbelief coursed through Eren's mind, he saw the Sin flash him a look. Apparently, the connection went both ways. Just great. The brunette made a mental note to talk to Sasha about the linkage later.

Behind him, Eren a soft gasp and he turned quickly to look as his , Armin and Mikasa were looking as Christa in concern. She was clutching at her hip where her "wings" were. The blonde haired angel looked at the girl standing next to the Sin of Lust. "She's the Sin of Envy, isn't she?" The red haired girl stopped chattering and she and the raven both looked over to the group of freshman at the remark. Locking eyes with Christa, the ginger's breath drew in sharply and her hand flew over her heart. Not in shock, as Eren and his friends knew, but at the feeling coursing through her tattoo. She hissed at the sensation and glared at Christa.

"Virtue of Modesty. Oh great it's the _prude_ ," The ginger spat hatefully. Ymir turned her head so fast that she probably almost gave herself a whiplash. Growling under her breath, she started over to the bitchy girl, no doubt to give her a good beating. The dark-haired girl was stopped by a gentle but firm grasp on her wrist. "Please don't Ymir. It's not worth it." Taking a shaky breath and releasing it, she turned to Christa and hugged her. "Just because you asked. **Only** because you asked," she muttered. The blonde smiled softly and rubbed her hand on her girlfriend's back.

"Joy, now there's a couple of she-fags." The cynical remark cut into the moment and the attention was focused back onto the spiteful redhead. Eren, Armin and Mikasa shot equal looks of loathing at her. What was wrong with loving someone of the same gender? The bitch ignored the glares and turned back to the raven haired Sin of Lust.

"Isn't it disgusting, Levi?" She asked, gluing herself yet again to his side. Eren snorted at that remark, making no effort to hide his disdain- or his laughter. The ginger turned to the brunette and gave him a snarky look. "What's so funny?" Eren smirked at her.

"It's funny how you say that 'fags are disgusting' and all while the guy you're so blatantly flirting with- Levi was it?" Eren paused to glance at the raven who quirked an eyebrow and nodded, "-is bisexual and obviously finds you bothersome." The bitch narrowed her eyes at the brunette.

"Do you even **know** who you're talking about? This is **Levi Ackerman**. He's like the most popular senior in this entire school, and his father runs the Ackerman Enterprise. How can a mere newbie like **you** say that you know **anything** about him?" Eren opened his mouth to respond but was cut off as she continued. "And do you know who I am? I'm Petra **Ral**. My father is Malcolm Ral, the vice CEO of the Sina Corporation. So how about you show some respect, freshman?" Eren snickered.

"I know his sexuality because I'm the Virtue of Love, sweetheart. It comes with the job description." The aforementioned Levi Ackerman started at this and eyed him over. Eren could feel the Levi's curiosity spike at the revelation. The girl rolled her eyes at that and opened her mouth- undoubtedly to add unwanted commentary- but Eren cut her off, like she did to him before. "And by the way, my name is Eren Jaegar. My dad is Grisha Jaegar- you know, that famous doctor? The one who owns like almost every fucking hospital in the country? And about the Ackerman Enterprise thing, that's quite a coincidence you know?" The brunette turned to his adopted sister.

"Hey Mika, isn't that the company your uncle owns?" Mikasa nodded. Eren turned back to the gaping girl- Petra. "Shiganshina Prep isn't exactly a place full of normal people you know. Boasting about your dad's name isn't going to get you far. I'm pretty sure that most of the kids here have almost identical birthrights as you. It's honestly not that impressive." Petra looked furious but before the fight could escalate any further, a timid voice chimed in.

"Um, guys, shouldn't we be going? The others are still waiting for us in the lunchroom you know." The spotlight was directed at Armin now and the boy flushed at the attention. Eren smiled at his childhood friend.

"Yeah, you're right. Another time, maybe." The brunette turned back to the pair of Sins, Lust with his hands in his pockets, his face contemplative, Envy with her fists clenched in mortification. Choosing to ignore the latter, the brunette nodded at the raven- haired senior. "See you around, I guess. This isn't over." The Sin of Lust lifted his eyebrow yet again and smirked in reply.

"All right then, you shitty brat." Eren's face reverted back to a scowl and he started stalking off, doubtlessly pissed off by the title he had been given. The raven called after him "Jaegar, was it?" The brunette halted in his tracks but didn't turn. He lowered the hand that had been pressed to his neck the whole time and clenched both them into fists, openly displaying his irritation. The action was unneeded- since Levi could feel his emotions. The raven's eyes were directed to the tips of the wings peeking out of the collar of Eren's t-shirt. As if he could feel the Sin's gaze, his hand reached up to cover it again as he turned his head to glower at his demon correlative. His indignant teal eyes met amused silver ones. Still holding his stare, the raven walked up to the brunette and murmured, "I'll see you around Eren." His name rolled off of Levi's tongue and said freshman blushed at the remnant of his dream that it brought up. Biting on his lower lip, he muttered a quick, " 'Bye, Levi" before he rushed off, his friends trailing after him.

* * *

Levi stared after the fiery brunette, reminiscing the flashing teal eyes and the flushed cheeks of his angelic counterpart. The brat was passionate and had a quick temper- and his powers were curious. Levi couldn't wait to out more about the excitable freshman. Licking his lips as he remembered the brat biting on his full pick ones, Levi thought to himself, _This is going to be one interesting year._

* * *

All the while, Petra Ral stood on the sidelines, her ego bruised by that fucking freshman. She shot a look to Levi- her Levi- and opened her mouth to complain and whine. He would comfort her, and console her. But when she turned to the raven Sin for assurance, his gaze was not on her, but on the retreating back of that teal eyed angel. Gritting her teeth at the injustice, she vowed to herself, _Eren Jaegar is going to_ pay _. Levi belongs to_ me _!_

* * *

 **A/n: Okay maybe not exactly on Christmas but close enough. Sorry for the late update. I had a bit of writer's block because I didn't know how I wanted to introduce Levi. I rewrote the first couple of lines like 5 times. In the middle of reading a Riren fanfic on AO3, inspiration hit out of nowhere and I ran over to my computer and started typing. I look up at the clock now and it's 2 hours later and this is done.**

There are some things I want to say:

A) Yes, Petra is a bitch. I find that fanfictions where Petra is supportive are nice and all but having competition froma girl over Levi makes things interesting. I recommend "More than a one night stand" by MaggiexxLove. Petra is such a bitch in this one and I absolutely love it.

B) I'm sorry that the conclusions are short, I spent the whole chapter with like no line breaks and to wrap it up, I wanted a different PoV so yeah.

C) Sorry the chapter is shorter this time, I didn't want to add like another half of a scene at the end of this and split it between this chapter and the next. I promise though, the next update will be longer, with more characters too!

D) I mean no insult to homosexual relationships. Please know that insults like "she-fags" and the like aren't being promoted here. This was merely used to display the personality of a character. I am not encouraging the use of such vocabulary.

E) Please review me, feedback me if you want anything clarified and if there are any mistakes that I should correct. Heck, review me in general, I need something to work with here!

F) Thank you for reading my fanfiction.


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